Book Blurb An Inner Darkness: Noremway Parish, founded 2,000 years ago by the Great Savior Ragas Moliere, is the last bastion of humanity after the war with the demons known as the Darkness. The continued existence of Noremway Parish is imperative to the survival of the human race.
A Forbidden Love
Teret Finley never thought she’d have children. When she took the oath to become parochial vicar, the keeper and teacher of the histories of Noremway Parish, she took an oath of celibacy, but that all changes when a pair of conjoined twins mysteriously appears in the parish cathedral. She becomes a mother to them, and with the help of the parish friar, Decon Mangler, gives them love and warmth.
Rumors begin spreading throughout the parish, rumors that could undermine their entire way of life as Decon and Teret grow close. Is Teret breaking her oath by caring for these children with Decon? There is one person who will stop at nothing until she finds out—Rita Morgan, the parish gossip.
The recent death of Mayor Tomias Waterman has sent the parish leadership into turmoil, and the sheriff, Franz Phoenix, has seized control, using Rita as his lap dog. He finds amusement in her gossiping ways, and puts her to use to tear down Decon and Teret, destroying the foundations of the society, and making room for his own brand of moral corruption.
Can Decon and Teret’s love survive? And if they are found guilty of crimes against society, what will happen to the twins?
My Review:
If you like zombies, aliens, werewolves, forbidden romances, and karma for the judgmental all rolled into one story, you will like this book. I would like to say that this is not my typical genre that I read, but I really wanted to stretch my horizons so I gave in and gave this a try. I was certainly not disappointed. Even if you are not used to this type of book(which I think falls into horror/sci-fi/fantasy), you will not have any trouble keeping up with it. The world depicted is in the future, where people have only vague recollections of how life used to be. There is very little vegetation and water, but the people make do with the yearly rainfall that seems to come at scheduled time. In the beginning the Mayor and his pregnant wife are killed, but the one child that remains is saved. You later find out that this is no ordinary child, in fact this child will change the future of the world as we know it.
Now I am not sure that the monster-like things that the people start to turn into after a while are a combination of zombies and werewolves, but that is the way my mind interpreted it. I found myself picturing the story teller like the aliens from Stargate: as beings who were highly evolved and intelligent. I’m not quite sure if that is where I was intended to go or not, but it made the story interesting for me, considering my previous lack of experience with this genre.
There are a few things that happen in this book that will be stuck in your head weeks after you read it, like the way a prisoner attacks his guards. I really don’t want to ruin this scene for you, so let me just say it is graphically horrific and hysterical at the same time. I believe it comes from the author’s dry sense of humor. I also like how the story teller could be interpreted as the author planning out how his story would go.
All in all, a good read from beginning to end, even for a newbie.
Author Elissa Daye 